SOLACE "Further" [ Meteorcity Records ] [ People Like You - LP ] If there ever was an album that was eagerly awaited by heavy doom fiends worldwide, then Solace's"Further" is the one... For those kept on a steady diet of a demo, a split EP, some compilationtracks and a 7", it's a pleasure to chew away at the main dish of "Further". "Man Dog" sets in and pounds the ribcage like a savage beast, bewildered with volume, keeping youmerely an inch away from needing a rabies shot. The sound is massive, yet clear and crispy and thecombination of Jason's melodic vocals and the backbone of a three man heavy groove armada is lethal.Dark sinister riffs lead into "Black Unholy Ground", another example of what Solace does best: going for the jugular vein and lock its jaws. The pace drops in "Followed" which thrives on ethereal waves of guitar and which builds up to a climax nicely.Oldie "Whistle Pig" is up next, still boasting that frantic riff it had on the demo, but here it has grown into a pink fifty foot colossus. "Hungry Mother" is another track that's been around for some time and still hasn't lost its initial impact. When Solace gets mellow, the spirits of young Pink Floyd and Hawkwind can be sensed in the room, tapping their heels in unison with the music. This band's been criticized unrightly forlacking variety. Maybe this album needs more than just a couple of spins to fully absorb its richness of textures.It's clear that the slow burning "Angels Dreaming" and "Suspicious Tower" are far from one dimensional, they reveal a band that successfullyblends good musicianship with soulful arrangements and sheer power. By the time the evil siamese twins of "Heavy Birth/2 Fisted" steamroll their way out of the speakers, it's obvious that this was well worth the wait. Now where's that repeat button? Solace pix by Scott C. Kinkade Downington, PA, USA scottkade@aol.com Jason Bixby Rob		AN INTERVIEW WITH TOMMY SOUTHARD Words | Chris Dexters Pix | Scott C. Kinkade "Further", the long anticipated Solace CD has finally been released. It's an album that's seen a few setbacks... how come? Well, the major problem was the studio time. The studio we use for all our recordings, Trax East here in New Jersey was booked solid for months.... so we had to sneak into the studio at odd hours of the day and night and put it together like that. We didn't have the luxury of a solid block of time and that was the major delay.But that kind of spread-out time frame gave us a unique perspective we have not had before, it gave us time to reflect on your recordings and take the time to make sure they were the way we really wanted them. As opposed to rushing in because of time and money and leaving with a product we weren't happy with... So you could say working conditions weren't optimal. IMHO the CD is a very solid entity... Do you feel there's things that could've been done differently if you'd had a couple of weeks in a row? I think overall the record is right where we wanted it to be. Of course there are always things you wish you could do again or tweek a bit to make it stronger... But we were very happy with the record, as we've worked really hard on it. Who's who in the band at the moment? Me on guitar, Rob Hultz on bass, Jason at the mic and Bill "Bixby" Belford on drums....Bill was actually our very first drummer before Keith Ackerman from The Atomic Bitchwax played with us. Are they all NJ residents? Yeah sure.... I've known Rob forever. We played in hardcore bands together. I knew Jason from other bands and met Keith through Chris Kosnick (now in The Atomic Bitchwax) when he was in Godspeed with Rob and myself. If that makes any sense... Uh yeah, so it all kinda interconnects, is there something like a NJ scene? Meteorcity's been planning that "Scene Killer "project since god knows when... Well, there are certainly a lot of great musicians here in Jersey and I guess there's a central nervous system for a scene here. The Brighton Bar is the brain center, seems that's where all the heavy rock bands play, and where everyone knows everyone... There's still a lot of bands from around here that no one knows about, Lord Sterling being one of them. And keep an eye out for Halfway To Gone too. We all try to support eachother's bands, so that makes it a scene, I guess. Does that scene focus on the heavy/stoner side or do you "mingle" with the traditional metal scene as well? We hang on the fringe of the stoner scene. We dig all those bands, but we also dig the metal and hardcore/punk thing, whereas we might be too heavy for some true "stoner" rockers. We're trying to break down a couple of walls, Solace are not ashamed of loving metal. There's a healthy dose of metal on the album, nevertheless you succeed in staying clear of the cheesy aspect of it all. Some people in the this stoner scene really hate metal and/or punk. And while stoner lends itself to 70's type rock it also has been greatly influenced by metal and punk. I mean, Black Sabbath is as metal as it's gonna get.... haha. No doubt metal can be cheesy, we stay clear of talking about dragons and swords and all that fantasy shit or ripping bodies apart, that shit is so overdone. We deal with reality and our own lives, so I guess our lives aren't that cheesy (laughs). Guess when it comes down to metal, your influences rather go back to 70s heavy rock acts that lead up to the metal movement of the 80s? Very true.... when I was young I loved all those bands from the 70's and I was lucky to have young parents and cool uncles who turned me on to that stuff. And as I got older, still being a fan of music I discovered metal on my own.... I swear I could hear tinges of dinosaurs like Ted Nugent or Captain Beyond shine through on the album, archetypical hardrock warped ahead 3 decades through a time machine... Well... Ted's definitely the one of the 2 that played a part in my youth. He's an over the top maniac! We try to bring some of that over the top energy to the stage when we play live, it's just that we're a lot sloppier that Uncle Nuge ever was. We tend to get drunk and he's straightedge. And we're way too fat to wear loin cloths! Hell yes! "Stranglehold" is probably as "stoner" as can be...No deer to be hunted down around NJ either... Well fuck, bro... we've got an over abundance of deer here in Jersey... over 700,000!There's so many people here calling in riflemen to "thin" the herds... Oops, guess I'm being a geographical dunce here. We'll have to cut that! No no, it's just that a lot of people don't know this about Jersey, because they fly into Newark Airport and only see North Jersey. But we're called the Garden State and we have the pine barrens, which are thousands of miles of nothing but forest.But you're right "Stranglehold" is one hell of a great song, being stoner or otherwise... It seems that melody/harmony are important to Solace. That's where I think Jason's vocals stick out as well. They're different from what's the norm lately. Yeah, we make it a point not to just sing along with what the guitar or bass is playing... we try to incorporate a more rock feel to the vocals.... ...making it a nice contrast. Melodic vocal lines over top heavy thick-layered backbone. Exactly! That's something I miss about 70's rock or metal compared to newer bands, mostly in the shit they play on radio or MTV. Most bands sing in this heavy metal Leon Redbone vocal style, real low, almost like talking. And they just follow the music vocally... so weak! Where's all the Ronnie James Dio's of the world? Guess you should ask Dan of Slow Horse about that... Hahaha... I love that guy! He's a funny cat... and Slow Horse is a killer band. Do you have an extreme adoration for an artist in the way he has? Not really... although the first night of the Godspeed/Cathedral/Black Sabbath tour, we ate dinner in the same room as Black Sabbath and I was sitting right across from Tony Iommi and Geezer and I was totally freaked out. I mean here I was, this jerk from Jersey watching Iommi and Geezer sip soup. I was so freaked out I had turn my back towards them, as not to see their faces.... And you did the Sabs tribute with Bruce Dickinson as well... Yessir... and to rub this in Dan's face: we also toured with Mr. Ronnie James Dio!Just kidding, Dan... Thomas Southard, houseguest of the stars! Hey, you keep at it long enough and every dog has his day, right? Guess I just got lucky... perseverance pays off in the end! But apparently you like doing the occasional tributes and compilations. You did the Meteorcity Maiden tribute and I've seen some older tracks appear on "Judge Not" and "Stone Deaf Forever". Any particular strategy there? Haha... strategy? Well, it's simple: get your name out there as much as possible. I mean, ain't no one gonna buy your record if they don't know you exist! No really, Maiden is a long time fave of ours, as are The Misfits, those were no brainers.... I liked the idea of having some Solace originals from the demo through those comps. They haven't lost any of their initial impact. "King Alcohol" is still an awesome tune.Do those comps actually generate contacts for the band? Thanks. Well, we really felt that those songs were really fresh and strong, so even though a fair amount got heard through tape trading etc... We knew a large portion of the public would have never heard them unless we put them out on those comps.And as far as new contacts go, especially the Freebird comp has been fruitful for us.That one and the first comps we were on here in Jersey really got our name out there. Did that result in the Jersey Devils split? Yeah... we really got a great response from the split. I was a bit surprised... About it selling well? Yeah, we recorded that on, like, a 12 dollar budget, we were really rushed. Where as I think the songs are really good, I know we could have done a better job recording them. The split is sold out now and it will not be re-issued. We may however at some point re-release it without the Solarized portion, and add some of our compilation tracks and rarities... How's the response from abroad? Is the full album getting a proper distribution over here? It's hard for me to tell, as it's just been released, but so far we have been getting a great response. So if people are talking about it, they must be able to get their hands on it. I've seen there's a sticker on it positioning Solace's music somewhere in between Sabbath, Tool and Deftones. Why did you decide to do so? Well, that wasn't really our decision, but I understand the angle. Trying to put the record into hands of kids with money to burn. And I can see some of the new kids getting into our shit, I sure hope we can sway a few towards better music. I can imagine many an "insider" raising an eyebrow... I hadn't expected Meteorcity to go about it like that... Yeah, we had a bit of a concern too... but if someone on the inside doesn't pick it up because of a little 1/2 inch sticker then that's their loss. There's a whole lot of kids out there, so if just 1/1000th of them buy our record, we'd be perfectly happy... The artwork used on "Further" differs from the usual retro type design which is popular in the genre. How did you come across Wes Benscoter? Wes has contacted Meteorcity, looking to do some "stoner" rock style art, since he has done a lot of work for mostly death/metal bands, including Slayer. And we actually wanted something a little less typical "stoner", ya know... planets, spacemen and the likes. So when we heard he was into working for Meteorcity, we were all like hell yeah, that guy kicks ass! If you haven't seen his art, go check out his web page at www.wesbenscoter.com. I think the painting really oozes "doom"... Yep, that's kinda what we wanted.... a more sinister look and feel. More or less a forwarning of what's lurking inside the CD. Will you be putting on a tour to coincide with the release? Right now there's no tour set, but we are working on it. It's tough because we all have day jobs and most of us have kids, so it's hard to just kinda up root and go like we could when we were a bit younger. But we will most definitely be touring... there's just no dates set at the moment. Did you ever play in Europe at all (maybe in the Godspeed/Slaprocket era)? Yeah, we spent almost 3 months in Europe with Godspeed. Slaprocket wasn't around long enough to tour, but we did tour Long Branch! 'scuse me? Long Branch is where the Brighton Bar is... that's where Slaprocket played most of the time, haha. What about Europe stuck with you from touring there (apart from Amsterdam, which most bands seem to remember best...)? Funny, I can't seem to remember anything about Amsterdam... the spicy green stuff maybe, haha... No, I remember us going out to buy some beer. We walked for miles with no idea where we were going, we finally end up in a store that sells beer, buy a case of beer (which wasn't an easy task since we don't speak the language)...So we get back on the tour bus and open the beer and it's (shock! horror!...) alcoholfree beer! We walked all the way back to the store and the lady was nice enough to exchange it for us... but it took us like 3 hours to get a damn case of beer.Other than that it's basically similar to touring in the States, apart from seeing historical sites you haven't seen before and a little bit of a culture shock. Long, long drives, lots of waiting and even more drunken mayhem... The good ole "life on the road is tough" cliché? Ever been in a bus with 12 other dirty ass rockers who haven't showered for more than a week? It ain't very pleasant! But yeah, it can be, you know: bad food, no money.... but playing live makes it all worthwhile. But seeing that most band members have day jobs & kids, I guess it's not always easy to put efforts into Solace, let alone touring/playing live? That's true, people don't understand all the hard work and sacrifice that goes into being in a band, it's not always easy. If you could look behind the scenes and see what goes on, a lot of people would be surprised. Of course every band has different situations but anyone in a band knows a little bit of what I'm talking about...Not everyone in the band are with their wives anymore and that makes it even harder, because you only get to see your kids on certain days, that kind of hassle.So obviously your kids come first. If you'd get the chance to play Europe are there any bands you'd like to hook up with for a show? Yeah! Goatsnake! Spirit Caravan! Entombed! Spiritual Beggars! Beaver! Wouldn't we all wanna see them on one bill, huh? Hell, yeah! One last question: if ever you'd be asked to provide 3 records to go in a space capsule, in order to explain the concept of "Rock n Roll" to extraterrestrial civilizations, what would those be and why? Uhm, haha tough one, let's see... Black Sabbath "s/t", Black Sabbath "Paranoid" and Black Sabbath "Sabotage"! You can never go wrong with Iommi, Osbourne, Butler & Ward. What the heck, just make it the whole Ozzy collection of Sabbath, I mean, how can you leave out "Vol4", "Master Of Reality" and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"? Hope that won't make them critters hostile, as Ozzy might scare the shit out of them... Naw man... peace through Black Sabbath!Sometimes I get the impression them Sabbath guys are otherworldly anyway... [ BACK TO TOP ]